San Diego State University to offer a course dedicated to Selena

Universal Music Group

The course on Tejano superstarSelena Quintanilla-Perezwill be offered during the Spring 2020 semester.

On the birthday anniversary of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla Perez, the School of Journalism and Media Studies at San Diego State University is announcing that it will offer a course dedicated to the late singer.

Selena, a Latinx cultural icon, influencing media content and individuals through her music and persona, would have been 48 on Tuesday, April 16.

The course, titled “Selena and Latinx Media Representation”, will be offered during the spring of 2020, and university students will be able to register beginning November 1, 2019.

“Students at SDSU, a Hispanic-serving institution, need more engagement with representations, including absence of representation and misrepresentation, of Latinx populations,” saidNathian Shae Rodriguez, an assistant professor of digital media studies.

“Students also need access to content in media landscapes to better understand the relationship between mediated representations and Latinx identity formation and maintenance,” Rodriguez said. “Speaking about these issues through the life of a well-known and visible celebrity allows students to utilize both pop culture and Latinx culture to deconstruct and interrogate the significance and broader meaning of minority-based mediated content.”

The course explores and deconstructs the socio-cultural mediated representations of intersectional Latinx identities by analyzing the music, career and influence of Selena. The course also accentuates her influence on Latinx media, media personalities, audience reception and niche marketing.

Further, students in the course will be able to examine historical and contemporary issues of Latinx representation and identity formation/maintenance with a particular emphasis on digital media.

“Selena was such an inspiration to so many Latinx individuals around the world and continues to be today. Her music, fashion, and iconography have influenced every facet of pop culture, transcending the entertainment world and influencing socio-cultural spaces worldwide,” Rodriguez said. “I grew up listening to Selena and wanted to create a course that highlighted her impact on not just Latinx culture, but pop culture in an international scope.”

Selena was born in 1971 in Lake Jackson, Texas, and made her recording debut in the 1980s in the Tejano music scene. Selena released 10 albums over the span of her career and won several awards, including dozens of Tejano Music Awards, more than one dozen Billboard Latin Music Awards, 10 Lo Nuestro Awards and a Grammy Award.

Selena was killed on March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi, Texas by the founder of her fan club. A movie about Selena’s life was released in 1997, starring Jennifer Lopez in her breakout role. In 2017, Selena was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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